Unilever unveil new reusable packaging innovations

Brand manufacturer Unilever has launched new reusable packaging innovations across nine of its brands, including four new product formats.

The new products will be trialled on Loop, a waste-free shopping system for premium durable packaging, which is delivered directly to the consumer, returned and refilled.

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It brings together a coalition of consumer goods companies, including recycling firm TerraCycle.

The platform also offers the chance to work with others at scale to test reuse models and help shift consumer behaviour, which the companies hopes will make circular packaging systems commercially viable.

Skincare brand REN Clean Skincare, Hellmann’s, Love Beauty and Planet, Love Home and Planet and Seventh Generation will trial new reusable packaging made from aluminium and glass.

Unilever’s deodorant brands Dove, Rexona (Sure in the UK) and AXE (Lynx in the UK), will all be trialling a premium, refillable deodorant stick called minim, which is made from stainless steel and is sustainable and compact.

Dependent on how much the consumer uses, this product can last on average one month, with the packaging designed to last at least 100 cycles, equalling around eight years. It has the potential to save up to 100 packs from being thrown away.

Unilever’s involvement in Loop supports its existing efforts to create a plastic system that works and a packaging system that is circular by design.

In 2017, the company committed to make all of its plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. Since then, Unilever said that ‘good progress’ has been made against three targets, with absolute packaging volumes flat since 2010.

Unilever chief executive Alan Jope said: “We want to put an end to the current ‘take-make-dispose’ culture and are committed to taking big steps towards designing our products for reuse. We’re proud to be a founding partner of Loop, which will deliver our much-loved brands in packaging which is truly circular by design.”